What does 2018 look like for Réncái?
Réncái’s reflection on projects in 2017…
2017 was a very interesting year from a Réncái point of view. We moved away from a large business development team into a more robust set of strategic partners and associates. This enabled us to build closer relationships with likeminded partners, with the aim of supporting our clients to deliver their modern-day people strategies in the most effective way possible.
HR transformation is something that everyone talks about but what actually is it and what does it involve? Follow the link below to another one of my blogs that discusses the topic in more detail… http://rencaigroup.com/hr-transformation-actually-going/
In 2017 we had the opportunity to work with a broad range of clients, from blue collar organisations to white collar, from FTSE to SME and finally we collaborated with some HR leadership teams who were truly strategic, as well as some who were still finding their feet.
Project support wise Réncái are very agnostic. We’re focused to support HR leadership teams to deliver their modern-day people strategies, by creating engaged organisations who embrace digitalisation. This allowed us to complete projects within the HRIS space that covered tier 1 products such as: Successfactors and Workday, as well as tier 2 products such as iTrent. In 2017 we supported with anything from capturing business requirements for the HRIS, vendor selection, change and communications, to more technical aspects such as configuration and data migration.
A common project that we supported last year was around the analysis and optimisation of TOM’s (target operating models). Many of our clients have struggled to see the benefits they were promised when implementing Ulrich, this has lead to issues further down the line such as: HRBP’s becoming involved in ER activities, COE’s clashing with HRBP’s, HR Shared Services struggling to get to an advisory level, lack of succession in HR Shared Services. The most common problem we saw in 2017 was ex HR Managers/Advisors who had stepped up into HRBP roles and all that had changed was their job title – without thorough training, structure or guidance from HR leadership teams, these guys are set up to fail!
An area that we began to seriously explore in 2017 was Employee Engagement. You’ll have seen from my previous blogs, as well as our partnership with Engagement Multiplier that it’s an area a lot of not just HR leaders are considering but business leaders too! From a Réncái point of view there are very few clients who can say they have created an engaged workforce. However, from my personal point of view Employee Engagement should be at the top of every single People Director’s priorities for 2018. We all talk about how we want to make HR more commercial and if you look at the ROI you get from an Engaged organisation it’s an absolute no brainer. Benefits such as: higher productivity, an improved internal brand, improved external brand (good for resourcing, attraction), effective communication, better wellbeing – these are just a couple of examples that lead to employees performing better and typically producing higher quality/quantity of goods/services – again this leads on to higher revenue which should lead to higher profit! The challenge that engagement faces is that it’s one of those fluffy things – if you don’t have a high attrition rate or employees performing really badly, then it’s a “nice to have”.
We were also involved with Shared Services implementation/optimisation, Payroll evaluation/implementation, global process redesign and resourcing strategy improvement projects in 2017.
New website
A good website is important for any organisation however, from a Réncái point of view it’s crucial, as it’s often one of the first touch points a new customer will go through. Within the website we’re going to have a brand new modern format, which will be supported by an introduction to new values, mission and services. We’re aiming to make the website more personal too. Many of you will have received our advisory papers that cover a number of areas within the HR transformation space, all of these will be available to review, as well as some of our introduction documents. Another key area of the website will be our blogs page, where you will be able to see the “amazing” content that myself and the rest of the team post!
New offices
You’re probably getting the impression that we’re going through quite a few changes as we transition into 2018. The most visible of those is our brand-new office which is in the heart of Ancoats. Anyone who knows Manchester will be aware that there is an immense amount of investment going into the Ancoats village and we’ve been lucky enough to be involved with the transformation.
In 2017 we were involved in a number of projects where we supported clients who were relocating to new “Smart” working offices. Réncái are happy to announce that they themselves are now operating out of such premises. We’ve already began to see the benefits of a more relaxed environment and encourage any of our network/connections within the Manchester area to come along to our office – whether that be to get introduced to the Réncái team or if you’re thinking about moving into a similar office yourselves.
New strategy
To close thing’s off I am keen to speak about our new focused strategy for 2018. Above I discussed some of the project area that we supported in 2017 which ranged from: TOM, Engagement, HRIS, HRSS, EVP, Resourcing etc. Moving into this year we want to focus on 3 core areas; Target operating models, HRIS and Employee Engagement.
However, we’re also keen to exploit a couple of markets that we haven’t penetrated as much as we’d like historically: SME, North West and Midlands markets.
TOM
As discussed above our existing customers have felt a number of challenges since transitioning to an Ulrich model. I’ve made a note of the typical pain points our clients feel around TOM, can you relate?
- Dissconnectivity between HR Business Partners, HR Shared Services and COE’s
- Lack of ownership between HR Shared Services and HR Business Partners
- Customer (the business) becoming lost in the new model and not knowing who to contact
- Lack of succession within the HR Shared Services leading to a lack business culture knowledge or poor performing shared services
- Infective/No HRIS/MI meaning that lots of time is wasted on tasks that could be automated
- HR Business Partners becoming involved in ER cases rather than true value creation initiatives
Engagement
Engagement is a vastly used term and will mean a completely different thing to me, as it does to you. However, the ROI I discussed above is invaluable to both people teams and organisations so what are some of the symptoms of an organisation struggling with Engagement?
- High attrition rates (is this something you’re measuring?)
- Poor performing teams
- Lack of internal communication
- Lack of leadership
- Low customer satisfaction rates
An interesting fact to consider…
Disengaged employees can be classed as those who turn up, do their job and then go home. It’s not just the guys who are proving difficult to handle. An engaged employee is someone who goes above and beyond to move the business forward.
HRIS
The final focus area for Réncái in 2018 will be HR System implementation and optimisation. This is something that we have been specialist in for some time now however, technology is just one element of transformation, it’s an enabler. From Réncái’ s point of view we’d never just look at a HR Systems implementation, it has to tie in with the overall TOM as if not then you are just implementing another system. Our continued support in this area will ensure that we analyse ongoing business requirements, vendor selections, selection of implementation partners, change and communications activity, the building of internal teams, as well as the adoption of HRIS.
REMEMBER… OUR FOCUS IS TO ENABLE CLIENTS TO DELIVER PROJECTS. WE DON’T WANT TO COME IN AND DELIVER EVERYTHING OURSELVES, THAT DOESN’T ADD VALUE TO OUR CUSTOMERS. WE WANT TO IMPROVE INTERNAL CAPABILTIY THROUGH KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER VIA OUR CONSULTANTS WHO HAVE 20+ YEARS EXPERIENCE WORKING WITHIN OPERATIONAL HR, AS WELL AS MODERN PEOPLE TRANSFORMATION.
HR HAS AN AMAZING OPPORTUNITY TO BE A STRATEGIC PARTNER TO ORGANISATIONS AND ADD VALUE THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF ITS PEOPLE. MANY BUSINESSES COMPLETELY FORGET ABOUT THE PEOPLE ASPECT OF CHANGE, THEY GET LOST IN THE PROCESS AND TECHNOLOGY. LET’S MAKE 2018 THE YEAR THAT HR GET’S ITS FEET UNDER THE TABLE!
Appreciate that many of you who are reading this will have had contact with myself/Réncái historically, I’d encourage you to reach out for a catch up. For those of you who have not had contact with us historically again it would be great to be introduced. Feel free to comment on this post or drop me an email [email protected]
Harry Wright
Client Relationship and Delivery Consultant
07341 662232
Réncái Group
